Protection From False Realities

Let Them Eat…

Last week marked the end of another school year for most of our students in Alamance County (NC) and across the country and along with EOG exams and farewell parties comes the end of National School Lunch Program (NSLP) funded meals for schoolchildren. Why does this matter? It matters because there is abundant evidence that, for many children in our country, an NSLP meal is the only reliable source of nourishment in their day. It matters because removing this critical support when the schools close their doors for the summer means kids may be forced to go months without so much as a hint of nutritionally valuable food in their diets. It matters because it demonstrates, in the most stark and barbaric terms, that the United States has accepted the existence of childhood hunger as a matter of public policy. Lawmakers, always eager to reduce the tax “burden” on the wealthiest and most powerful citizens and corporations, somehow find it fiscally irresponsible to fun food assistance programs to the most vulnerable and desperate among us. According to the NSLP’s own figures, the program provides vital assistance to over 30 million children, American children who might otherwise go the entire school day without any proper sustenance. This is 30 million American children who qualify based upon their family income and/or reliance upon other threatened Federal Assistance Programs (e.g. SNAP). If the #MAGA crowd wants to truly make good on that rallying cry, they should all look at their calendars; look at those sweltering summer days and ensure that American kids get the food they not only need but deserve.